Cigarette case



S. BERGER.

CIGARETTE CASE. APPLICATION FILED ocr. 10. mm

. 'Patnted Ap1a18, 1922.

3 woe/wlio a ,fvnae] Berger UNITED S ATE 7 To innmors wnrcn CASECOMPANY,

ILIINOIS.

T all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that I, SAMUEL BERGER, a citizenof the United States and a resident of Newark, in the county of Fssexand State of New Jersey, have invented certain new.

and useful Improvements in Cigarette Cases, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has for itsobjectto provide a simple, inexpensive, neatand efiicient case for cigarettes and-other articles,"and particularly acase of the type comprising two hinged lids and a holder arranged totake automatically va position equidistant from the lids, when the caseis opened.

An example of a'cigarette case embodying myinvention is shown intheaccompanylng drawingsin which "lfis a section, taken substantiallyon'the plane indicated by the line ;ll-of Fig.2, the latterbeinganinside view ofthe case,with one of the lids removed 1 and parts of thehinge in section; Fig. 12

' shows the case closed, while Fig. i represents it open;Figs. 3 and Aare detail sections, 011* an enlarged scale, taken on lines 3 3fandrespectivelyofFig. 2-;-Fig. 5 is adetail perspective View showing one ofthe hinge connections ofthe holder; Figs; 6 andj7 are sectional viewssimilartoFigs; 3 and 4, but

' showing the position assumedwhen the case is open; Fig. 8 is apartialsection on line 99 of Fig. 2. In the particular embodimentillustrated, the case comprises twovlids A, B, provided with flanges orbezels A, B"resp ectively and with hinge eyes A", B" respectively, thehinge eyes B appearing in section in Fig. 2.

I One of these hinge eyes A and one of the hinge eyes B", are of aspecial novel construction, to c'o-operate with certain parts 7 of theholder 'for the purpose of giving it a central position when the case isopened, as fully explained below. A suitable .pintle G completes thehinge connection of the. lids A B.

Connected with the hinge of the lids, and located between them, is thecigarette holder proper, which, as shown, may consist of two members D,E fastened together by soldering or in any other suitable manner, andprovided with sockets D, E to-seat the cigarettes F, two rows of fiveeach being accommodated in the particular case shown. At their ends theholder members may have bent lugs D", E to assist in keeping the ISpecification of: Letters IE'atent.

a section on line WENT m 7 SAMUEL BERGER, or NEWARK, New JERSEY, assreioa, BY; ivrnsnn tea ma e eas ern, rnmnors a con =,ona rro v or CIGARETTEPatented ,APL. 18, 191 212. Application filed October 10,1917.SeriaIINo'. 19 5 ,752." I 7 cigarettes in place. At their edges,-the memibers D, E have hinges G, {Of-T134173 H pressed inwardly by springs G",H, the h1ngesG,H being parallel to-the hinge'of the lids. For the sakeof clearness, these "flaps and their hinges li'avebeen "omitted thelids, I provide two brackets J, K having hinge eyes J, Krespectively,fitted between hinge eyes of the lids. According to in- 1vent on, each of the hingeeyes.J',-K,' is provided atone side-with asegmental ex.

tension K" respectively,' and' the adgacent hinge eye VB, A.respectively has a corresponding lateral segmental projection 27, 66resp'ectively, fthat is to say, theimatingadapted for co operationwitl'i-feaclr otherl extensions J, a; and 1K ,1) respectivelyliein thesame transverse planeand'are thus 7.5"

; The two pairs of. matingprojections are a 1- ranged reversely, thatisto say, if the pre-- ection J extends on the right-hand side,

(Figs; 4 and 7), and the projections-a and 'b -0f the hinge (Figsh3 :and6),then the' ipro- .jection. K. will befton' the -left'-h and' .-side:

will-be to the: left and right respectively The two segmentalprojections of the same pair are preferably of different angular ex-{tent, and their aggregate extentis less than 360, so thata space forrelative movement is left as shown clearly in Figs. 3, 4, 6 and 7. Theangular extentfof this space is 'one half of the angular extent ofthelid movement; that is to say, if the lidsare intended to open to aboutas shown, then the angular extent of the space between the, projectionsJ", a and I b respectively, will be about The operation of. this featurewill be understood readily, particularly with reference to Figs. 3, 4, 6and/7. The gaps or free spaces between the hinge projections J,a 5

and K, I) allow the holder to move relatively to the lids as the latteropen. When the fully-open position is reached (Figs. 1, 6 and 7), thesegmentalextension a of the one. hinge eye A engages the right-hand edgeof the mating extension J on the hinge eye 7 J of'tlie bracket J. At thesame time, the extension I) of the one hinge eye BT engages theleft-hand longitudinal edge of the mating extension K" on the hinge eyeK of the bracket K. Since-the blEtCk-' ets J, K are rigid with theholder, the

latter is virtually engaged on opposite sides by the projections Z), aof the lid hinges, and a two-fold result isobtained: First, the openingmovement of the lids is arrested or limited; second, when the lids arein this fully open position, the holder is maintained steady andpractically rigid in a position midway between the lids. The twobrackets J, K, being rigid with the holder, as stated above, and thehinge eyes J, K with their projections J, K" therefore being likewiserigid with each other, it follows that the two parts or surfaces of theholder which, in the open position of the case are engaged by the twolids, or by their hinge eye projections a, I), are rigid with eachother. It will be noted that these desirable results are obtained by theuse of a :very simple and inconspicuous construction. In the closedposition of the case 3 and 4. the brackets 'J, K may be engaged by thebezels A, B and held firmly between them but this is not essential.

Any suitable means may be employed for normally keeping the case closedand cansing it to open when desired. I have shown a spring catch L onthe lid A, to co-operate with a suitable keeper on the lid B. A spring Mhaving its ends fitted to the bezels A, B respectively and bentaround'one end of the brackets J servesto open the lids A, B when thecatch L is released. This spring has been omitted from Figs. 3 and 6..As this spring embraces the said bracketsJ, it hasa tendency to keepthe holder equidistant from the lids, whether the case is open orclosed,

or in any intermediate position. However,

the holding action of the yieldin spring M is not positive, as is thatof the projections J, a, K, a in the open position of 'the'case. Itherefore consider the holdingactionof the spring (to keep the holdermidway between the lids) as incidentahthe main function of this springbeing to secure the opening of the lids, and the mating projections J a,K, Z) will suffice to keep the holder equidistant from the lids whenthecase is open. The spring M might be arranged in other ways, and notnecessarily in the relation illustrated to one of the holder brackets.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the nature ofmy in vention as set forth inithe appended claims.

I claim:

LA case for cigarettes or other articles,

comprising a pair of lids and a holder located between them, all threeprovided with aligning hinge eyes, means for connecting said eyes, theholder being provided with a bracket extending to thehinge,-and a springwhose ends bear on the respective lids to open the case, while thecentral portion of the spring is bent to embrace said bracket.

2. A case forcigarettesand other articles,

comprising apair of hinged lids provided. with bezels adjacent to thehinge, a holder located betweenthe lids andhaving a bracket pivoted tothe lid hinge, and a spring straddling the holder bracket and havingits. ends connected with thebezels-ofthe respective lids.

In testimony whereof v I havesigned this specification.

SAMUEL BERGER.

